[Photo:Peter Yang / Time.com]

The largest independent robo-advisor now offers 3 services: digital, digital plus and premium

Betterment is no longer simply a robo-advisor with additional platforms for financial advisors and 401(k) plans. Starting today, Betterment’s retail platform is offering advisory services from certified financial planners and other licensed financial professionals. Customers can choose between:

• a Betterment Plus account, which provides an annual planning call from a licensed advisor plus monitoring of their accounts throughout the year;
• a Betterment Premium account, with unlimited access to licensed professionals who advise, plan and monitor accounts throughout the year; or,
• the traditional Betterment Digital service, which does not include any advisory service.

PROGRAM COSTS.    The Betterment Plus account costs 40 basis points and requires a minimum $100,000 balance; the premium offering costs 50 basis points and has a $250,000 minimum balance. There is no charge for either account after the first $2 million in assets.

Betterment’s traditional Digital plan charges a flat 25 basis points. It had been 10 basis points higher for many customers with less than $10,000 in assets and 10 basis points lower with $100,000 or more in assets. Now all digital customers will be charged the same, and current customers can upgrade to one of two new plans and schedule a call.

Betterment has hired about a dozen licensed financial professionals to staff the new offerings and will be looking to expand that roster, in line with demand.

Betterment has $7.3 billion in assets under management from about 200,000 customers. More than 400 advisory firms use its platform, but the firm doesn’t break down how many individual advisors are involved or how many assets they manage.